


Nature's Loopholes

by izumi2



Series: Random Stories (Civil War Team Iron Man) [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Moderated because of trolls that don't read or heed the tags, Not Natasha Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izumi2/pseuds/izumi2
Summary: The many, many things that needed to happen for Age of Ultron to work.Or...MCU!Ultron's existence managed to shove comic book logic into the comic book logic.Plus two extras.~*~Civil War Team Iron Man.Moderated because of trolls.





	1. Thor Takes Action

_Avengers - 2012._

Thor regrettably put the muzzle in his brother’s face. Loki’s most powerful weapon was his tongue after all and there were few ways to still it.

_“Good evening, Mr. Odinson, I am JARVIS. Dr. Stark has kindly requested that you wait just two minutes more, he is, unfortunately, running a little late due to a business related issue.”_

The demigod blinked at the voice in the ceiling, “Good evening, JARVIS. What matter of being are you?”

_“I am an artificial intelligence, or AI created by Anthony Edward Stark at the age of twenty. My purpose is to learn and grow. My designation is to protect Anthony Stark PhD. I organize Sir’s schedule and protect his interests such as his physical, mental, emotional and business’ health.”_

“Oh, I was unaware that Son of Stark was a jarl.”

“That I was a what?”

“Friend Anthony!” Tony had a very interesting expression at the chosen form of address and had no idea what to say. So in true Tony Stark style, he just went with the first thing that popped in his head.

“Kinky.” And gestured towards a gagged and chained Loki that sent him back a very deadpan look with only his green eyes… wait, green? But he was distracted at the thunderous (eh, pun) laugh Thor let out.

“Your mortal tales are very amusing, but the Asgardian royal family doesn’t partake in incest.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at the very specific call but, “So… jarl?”

“A noble warrior who owns and defends and rules a territory and its people in the king’s stead, a most honorable position.”

The billionaire’s lips twitched a little at that and decided to play nice, “I don’t know about noble, but sure, the… Midgardian equivalent, I guess.” A smile was unwillingly let out at the… honestly, Golden Retriever-like beam he got from the demigod.

Tony shook his arm a bit, drawing attention to the silver suitcase in his hand, Thor frowned, “Is that…”

“The Tesseract all ready for FedEx.”

“I do not understand.”

“It’s…a very inefficient way of sending a package by mail, never mind that, big guy.” Tony looked around and his mind went blank for a blissful second before going on overdrive, _oh, shit,_ “Ahm… Thor?”

“Yes?”

“Where is Loki’s Scepter?”

~*~

**_1.Thor forgot._ **

From the corner of his eyes, Tony saw Loki roll his and it was taking everything he had not to do the same at Thor’s blank expression.

“I… shall…retrieve it at once.” And he tried to smile.

“Wasn’t that thing with Natashalie?”

“Who?”

“Grumpy redhead in the catsuit.”

“…”

“In a really tight, ‘Look at my big breasts and tiny waist’ catsuit.”

“…”

“… Uh…never noticed that there is so little to describe her. I don’t know if I should admire that spy-like quality of hers or just think she is that bland.”

“I still do not know who Lady Natashalie is.”

“…please call her that to her face, please?”

~*~

**_2.Thor made a deal with SHIELD._ **

“Oh, with the warriors of SHIELD, as amends for Loki’s actions. I understand that my brother caused much destruction in your realm and he will be unable to face your justice as he faces Asgardian justice. So as a way to restitute, Midgardian shall have the weapon of its enemy.”

“… you made a deal with SHIELD.”

“Yes.”

“With alien tech.”

“Yes. Although as we speak, it occurs to me that I am unaware of where Loki acquired the Scepter.”

“…the same Scepter that can mind control people.”

“Yes.”

“And the same tech that messed with our minds with just being in the same room as the Scepter.”

“Yes.”

“And has similar energy signature of the Tesseract.”

“Yes.”

“The same Tesseract that attracted whoever sent Loki here on Ear… Midgard.”

Thor blinked, “It does make more sense that Loki was not acting alone. Where could he have found the Chitauri? But yes.” This time it was said with hesitation.

“So… tech that could attract other…hostiles to Midgard.”

“…”

“And that, not two days ago, you said that it was power that we, humans, shouldn’t be…working with.”

“…”

“…what did SHIELD say to you again? ‘Cause… no one really recognizes SHIELD as…uh…honorable.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Well, yes. No… uh… people of Midgard knows that they exist, SHIELD has no authority to grant lenience to Loki or to make bargains in Ear- Midgard’s stead. Also… don’t you think it’s strange? Yesterday you were saying that it was alien tech that attracted war to our world and SHIELD convinces you to leave alien tech just after a fight ends?”

“THOSE LIARS! DISHONORABLE! TRAITORS…”

~*~

**_3\. SHIELD says it’s “missing” (And Thor "remembers" or makes a deal with SHIELD or not)._ **

“We don’t know where it is. In the confusion of the aftermath, it went missing.”

Tony stared, completely unimpressed, at the gaggle of people that met them for this. Fury, Hill, Natashalie and Barton. For some reason that Tony still didn’t understand, they also called Rogers and Bruce for this… for reasons. Rogers looked confused and Bruce looked like he was nursing a headache.

“So…not only you missed Loki’s main weapon, you are also telling me that you **_are missing_** alien tech in general from the battle site…as in right now since there is still shit being cleaned up.”

“Yes.”

The inventor raised an eyebrow, despite himself, impressed at the bullshit delivered in a perfect deadpan. Whether or not it was true, “Well, good thing then, that we still have the Tesseract, I mean if we,” he gestured towards himself and Bruce that immediately caught on, “managed to track the Cube with the Scepter, then tracking the Scepter with the Tesseract can’t be that different, and hey, bonus for the Cube not being able to mess with our minds.”

Bruce and Tony did just that.

Tony also founded Damage Control, a joint venture with the federal government. In his first interview, the billionaire informed of the absurdly irresponsibility of losing an **_alien artifact capable of mind controlling people_** , as SHIELD seems unable to complete the task and considering the enormous risk for the population should those materials fall in the wrong hands or even innocent hands like children’s, Stark Industries and the federal government are taking upon themselves to retrieve all hazardous material from the battle site.

The billionaire enjoyed the sour SHIELD faces as both genuises delivered both alien artifacts to Thor.

Thor left with the Scepter immediately after the Battle of Manhattan and Ultron never happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, all this is assuming that SHIELD is the one that got the Scepter at all, but since MCU was so forthcoming about how in the world HYDRA got the Scepter in the first place, we are forced to assume...
> 
> Also... yep, Tony totally threw SHIELD under the bus because srly, why shouldn't he? They either lost the Scepter or they distracted and manipulated to get it.
> 
> That also means that Toomes' target of anger changed faces... *shrugs*... as unreasonable as it was before, but for all that Tony is unable to amend the Accords, everything else seems to revolve around something that he did at some point in the past.
> 
> If you want a take on how ridiculous Toomes' whole logic is (Killian's level of ridiculousness), I rec Kizmet's, [Of Redemptive Heroes and Family Values Villains](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12221817/chapters/27762609)
> 
> PS-I could have Tony point out that Natasha was the one to close the portal or the woman that said that Loki killed 80 people in two days but Thor didn't see WHO closed the portal, just heard it, and why would he remember Natasha or Hill or the other dozens of silent SHIELD agents from that conversation in the Hellicarrier, so...


	2. Howard Talks To Philips

_1950's - Early Founding Days of S.H.I.E.L.D_.

Operation Paperclip was met with trepidation and skepticism in those that weren’t seeing the strategic value as enough reason for it.

Of course, as a cover, the military kept talking about second chances. That the scientists that contributed to the Nazi cause could very well be like all those other citizens that honestly had no idea what was going on.

Instead of calling it the bullshit that it was, the American government simply took advantage of the move that was already in their country’s interest. Most of the more politically aware SSR rolled their eyes, Howard Stark calling it as it was, “You wanna keep them away of Soviet’s hands. It’s a dangerous gamble. We take advantage of their knowledge and who is to say that down the line they won’t sell us out?”

As it was the rest of the SSR thought that it would be worthy it. By the time SHIELD was founded, the project presented to the American government became their new motto.

Howard looked at the former assassins, terrorists, mercenaries that were composing SHIELD aside from the poached militaries and thought to approach Colonel Philips…who was packing his things from his already bare office.

“Uh… Colonel?”

“Stark.” He barely glanced at the millionaire, instead debating whether or not he wanted the potted plant in the corner.

“…am I to assume that you leaving is not because of the other base being built in DC, right?”

“Genius you are.” The man shrugged and decided to let it be. The thing was probably almost a hundred pounds and he did not have a green thumb.

“Because of what happened to Operation Paperclip…?” Howard could feel his eyebrows rising at the thump that the box full of office supplies made when making contact with the cleared table.

“I respect Carter… I dare even say that I like her, but she is making a mistake and since no one will hear me, I will have no part in this insanity.”

The inventor opened his mouth but Philips didn’t get where he was unable to read people, “I can say the same thing about you, Howard. You support Carter and I think that friendship is an admirable reason but I wouldn’t hide a body for my best friend.”

“Why do I have the feeling you didn’t mean that figuratively?”

Philips just sighed at him.

 “I agreed to found SHIELD with you both because I agreed with the premise. There are pies that the CIA and FBI can’t be seen taking a piece of, jobs that are in a very dark grey area and yet still need to be done. This isn’t what we are doing anymore, we keep saying that “ends justify the means” and the means will only get worse until the damage we leave behind is not better than what the people we are fighting against do on purpose. I am military, Howard, even if I’m not the best for it, I see the need for the cloak and dagger game but…my hard limit was crossed.”

“I… this isn’t what I was expecting coming here.” Howard rubbed his stiff neck.

“Do you know why Carter went to **_you_** in specific for that SHIELD idea of hers?”

“I do know her since the almost the beginning of WWII…”

Come to think of it, **_why_** Peggy went to him?

“Because you have the idea, you make that idea into reality and you sell the idea. All of it pretty successfully too.”

“Ok…?”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Apparently not.”

“Peggy and I took care of the operations, how things are run. But the only reason SHIELD manage to go as far as it has is because of you. Look, it’s not my place to convince you to stay or not, but know that you… by yourself… is responsible for the majority of this place’s success. You build their tech, their gear, you pay for the staff and the place and you also talk politicians and other officials and the fricking public into looking the other way when things go south…or when we make not exactly honorable decisions for the “greater good”. I don’t think I need to tell you any of this, you are a very smart man, Howard. If you leave, SHIELD will be dealt a blow that it may not recuperate from, so the question is: would that be a bad or good thing?”

Howard could only watch as the colonel gathered the last of his belongings and stopped at the door, “I will see you around, Stark.”

The millionaire thought long and hard and decided to withdrawn from SHIELD. Without everything he did for the organization and with no money to keep going, SHIELD was defunct in a few years. All the assassins and mercenaries were extradited to their respective countries, including the scientists and other very illegal citizens.

Operation Paperclip wasn’t used to recruit questionable agents and so HYDRA never managed to infiltrate SHIELD and Ultron never happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I had planned for Carter to have a sudden 'insight' and moral complex that, "Hey, accept all those people with very questional pasts may not exactly be a good idea...".
> 
> I have no idea whose brilliant idea was Operation paperclip but...
> 
> And yeah, without Operation Paperclip to lay the groundwork, Natashalie and Clint get the rough... oh, well, nothing is perfect.
> 
> All of this, again, is assuming that HYDRA got the scepter because they infiltrated SHIELD... (thanks MCU, for so much info given).
> 
> ~*~
> 
> I just watched Death of Superman and I'm still laughing at the fact that the UN being involved is a given for ANIMATED DC while Live Action Marvel went and had a Civil War over it... PFFFFF. (Then again, the Accords and the UN gets second narrative over Bucky so...).
> 
> Also... did anyone else realise that Bruce Wayne had a "feeling" that they were being invaded (I don't count Diana and her amazon way of knowing things) but he manages to convince most of the JL that they were being invaded while the Avengers rolled their eyes at Tony (the only to first hand SEE the ARMADA heading for Earth?).
> 
> Is anyone else super hyped for Shazam? HOLYYY... DC might get this one right!!! I watched the trailer like a dozen times now, Kendrick Lamar's Humble was a choice of the GAWDS!
> 
> Fun fact: Zachary Levi (actor playing Shazam/Captain Marvel for the the fans of the classic like me) also played Fandral from Thor... LOL.
> 
> Idk about Aquaman, the setup a little too much like Justice League but who knows, I'm cautiously... something.


	3. Of Actual Responsability

_May, 3 2013 – Iron Man 3._

Tony squared his shoulders and read through the résumés. Talking about his problems honestly was never one of his strong suits but he had to admit that unloading a little of it helped him. Doesn’t matter if his audience wasn’t very captive.

Bruce being awake or not, that was the first time in years since he revealed so much of his inner musings without getting interrupted by meetings, alarms, JARVIS, Pepper, Rhodey, or… life in general. And Tony did feel lighter… hurt and offended at the fact that his friend fell asleep, but lighter none the less.

_“I’m not that kind of doctor.”_

That got him thinking. Sure anyone else in his shoes would be hurt. It was one thing seeking a professional for help and another to seek for a friend. The first was supposed to “make you better” for a lack of a proper term, the second was just wishing for a shoulder to lean on. Regardless, that got him thinking that, as useless as his 17 year old-newly orphaned self thought of therapy, and as thoroughly as SI, Pepper, Rhodey and yours truly would have to screen said professional… perhaps it won’t be as useless as he always thought. Sure, it would involve contract and NDAs coming out of from every hole, but his issues can’t get in the way like they did on Rose Hill, Tony having to depend on a 10 year old to bring him back to reality, to talk him down from a panic attack.

So… therapy it is.

It never occurred to Tony that he needed to worry about anything SHIELD – the shady corporation lucky enough not to be sued a hundred times over for their little Natashalie and “taser you in your own house… arrest.” stunt – much less anything Thor… much less any of those things combined.

~*~

_November, 8 2013 – Thor – The Dark World._

Thor’s shoulders were still heavy with loss, of his mother and of Loki.

But he was grateful for the All Father grating him permission to stay on Midgard, with Jane and his other shield brothers and sisters.

The demigod had a very unfair view on Earth that has been since rectified. He often saw Midgardians as little evolved, Midgard as a whole nothing much worthwhile, dull. But the battles that Thor participated so far were full of thrill, his heart pumping, his muscles protesting and Jane was here, along with other many honorable warriors.

Even having all the information that strange and powerful things make their way to Midgard, Thor never dwelled too much time in the subject.

By that point, the Tesseract was sent here by Odin himself after being used many times by Asgardians.

Then Loki brought his Scepter that turned many warriors against their own.

Then the Aether resurged after all those millennia here, on Midgard.

A pattern that Thor never paid any attention to was firmly formed. But Thor was distracted, by pain of his family, by the guilt of leaving his father alone after all this loss and by joy of finally being with Jane, the thrill of a fight recently battled.

Thoughts of alien, powerful objects were the last thing on his mind. Be they of his brother’s, Asgardian or anyone else’s.

~*~

_April, 4 2014 – Captain America – The Winter Soldier._

Steve disapproved of Fury’s methods, or it seems, S.H.I.E.L.D’s methods, he saw Natasha’s “side mission” as an affront to everything he was used to with the Howling Commandos. They were a small, tightly knitted group. In war, there were no place for secrets and subterfuges and hidden agendas. They needed to trust each other.

It caught him completely by surprise that Hydra survived and thrived all those years, two of which right under his nose! Secrets were putting the world in danger all over again. Although Steve was willing to give Natasha a second chance, it truly made him want to roll his eyes at her surprise and shock that Hydra manage to infiltrate them.

And then… hope. For the first time since the Manhattan Battle, Steve had a mission. A mission that seemed to put all others to shame. His best friend survived all those years, ironically, almost cruelly, Steve was thankful for Hydra. If not for them injecting Bucky with their knockoff Super Soldier Serum, he wouldn’t be here today.

Thoughts of all the damage Hydra could bring through SHIELD took second place, Bucky went through enough for a lifetime.

~*~

_Extra – Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2._

Tony has had the most tangential of relations with S.H.I.E.L.D on purpose, that “organization” raised so many of his inner flags that it wasn’t even funny. On a more practical side, there is the fact that his motto has been transparency and accountability since Day One, throwing his lot with this guys that people never even heard of before the Battle of Manhattan wasn’t exactly something that would prevent the Board and Pepper from strangling him.

Before 2014, however, it never occurred to him to worry about some Scepter that truly had nothing to do with him. He wasn’t in cahoots with S.H.I.E.L.D, he wasn’t interested in alien tech aside from hoarding it all until figuring out a way to safely dispose of it and it seemed that 2013 to 2014 were the years that he knew the least and last about stuff that threatened their world…which did no favors for his PTSD.

_“Sir? You should see this.”_

“What the hell is that?” Tony whispered seeing the impossible readings, some kind of energy and bio mass that was getting bigger by the second…originating from… Missouri?

~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Why would it be Tony's responsability to think of what happens with the Scepter once whatever is it that happened for it to be left behind on Earth happened? He is not Asgardian and he is not with SHIELD...
> 
> 2) After whatever happened for the Scepter to be left behind happened (which HAS to include Thor unless people are telling me he is so oblivious/stupid to FORGET about it) Thor didn't mention it in TDW... at all. By that point, the Tesseract, the Scepter AND the Aether made their pretty way to Earth and no interest from him whatsoever? Again: people are telling me he is stupid. Comic tie-in has Loki in Odin's place (one of the ONLY smart decisions Marvel allowed Loki to make... anyways, I can go and on about that so...) send Thor to get the Scepter back... all of sudden... oh my god! SHIELD was Hydra... Hydra has it... OMFG!! *roll eyes*.
> 
> 3) That little connection, SHIELD = Hydra, Hydra has the Scepter... unfortunately took second place to Bucky... by jeez that meme that has Peter meeting the others inside the Soul Stone and confusing Bucky with Jesus is... accurate as far as Steve goes...
> 
> 4) The little extra is because Marvel told us that GoG2 took place between TDW and AoU... WHAT??? So let me see: the Chitauri in NY, the Dark Elves in London... and the blue Ego goo in Missouri happened between 2012 and 2015 and TONY IS THE ONLY ONE WORRIED ABOUT AN ALIEN INVASION? You know that thing that we "believe" that Team Crap just doesn't watch news? For all of them to roll their eyes at Tony's concern, Marvel is telling me that not only Thor didn't tell them about his little adventure TM, but that they HAVE NO IDEA what happened in London and in Missouri... Missouri I can more or less forgive on the account of: how in the world would they even know that had anything to do with aliens, but still, NY and London only had such small number of casualties because the inavding army were held back by its slim door... believing that every invasion will have this ridiculous setback is just naive and idiotic.
> 
> 5) I have plans for another fic(s) exploring SHIELD/Steve/Natasha, that's why their part was so small, so stay tuned ;))


	4. Maximoff Never Had a Chance

Wanda could feel the thrill of wishes unfolding. The adrenalin spreading through her system as long awaited plans came to fruition.

This was a chance in a million... or that's what it felt like eight years ago. She sneaked up on the monster that dared to take human form, she was already inside his head...

A high pitched noise and a searing pain in her shoulder. Wanda could faintly hear Pietro’s shout and then darkness.

~*~

“...and increased homeostasis... he is fast and she is weird.”

“Yeah... what she can do is little more than “she is weird”.”

“They are just kids, why are they in cells?”

“Well, first off, they are Hydra and what exactly did they do that is so different from what Rumlow did?”

“Rumlow didn’t volunteer to be Hydra to protect his country!”

“Neither did those two. Sokovia is in **_civil_** war, Mr. Rogers. Do you understand what that is? An armed conflict between two groups of the same state. They volunteered, at best, to help their own faction of beliefs.”

“Still, their people were being slaughhtered and they just wanted to help.”

“By “their people” you mean their own faction? ‘Cause they sure killed a lot of their own countrymen... On record.”

“Whatever the case, they won’t be our problem for long, we will contact the ICC and Miss and Mr. Terrorists will be someone else’s problem and very far away from us.”

There was silence...

“How is he?”

“He is... to be honest he is freaking out. His PTSD hasn’t been this bad since 2012 and this is making me want to punch the little bitch, and I don’t even know if that’s a good or bad thing. Being a coward for hitting a girl is losing its meaning nowadays... but just when the girl in question in Enhanced... or has a black belt... I swear this didn’t used to be complicated.”

“... Captain Danvers really did a number on you.”

“Shut up.”

The voices were confusing, too many people. She lost counscious again.

Wanda woke up with pressure in her arms, laying down in a cot and dressed in a grey jumpsuit. The pressure in her arms were hightech handcuffs that kept her arms, from the wrist and midway to the elbow together, a triagular device right in the middle, shining bright blue. The voices were back and she could recognize what she couldn’t before: they were close.

“... Asimov’s Laws weren’t exactly used for much more than fiction.”

_“Actually those laws have been actual guidelines since sir wrote his thesis about Dum-E at seventeen, the only reason that information hasn't been widely spread by now is lack of interest by the public. In general, people are much more likely to watch movies and series that deal with it than read several dozens of pages full of terms nowhere close to be considered layman.”_

“Regardless, they play no part in this, JARVIS followed the command of “Sentry Mode”, controlling who got in and out of a place, I always thought that was limitng but any programmer will say the same thing I am saying right now: the armor has directives to automatically use non-lethal armory in case the primary user is being threatened, I think we can all agree that he was being threatened. Asimov’s laws, fictional or not, don’t play into this because JARVIS didn’t play into this.”

Rhodes was interrupted by a dismayed and enraged yell, almost shrieking, Maximoff was trasing against her holdings, yelling curses and crying madly.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHY CAN’T I MOVE?!”

Not very phased by the display, Helen turned to Rhodey, “She has gained those abilities in 2014, had them for less than a year, that’s why we are closely monitoring Dr. Stark.” at the name, Maximoff’s temper went through the roof but no matter what she did, the cuffs were blocking her powers.

“At least we managed to figure out a way to contain her.”

“Yes.” Helen nodded, “I was hesitant to have Dr. Stark involved, to his own health’s sake, but without his first hand experience... telepathy is such unexplored skill, at least hers can be blocked but who knows about the next one.”

Rhodey grimaced.

“I don’t know. At least so far, we have natural abilities like Dr. Xavier and hers that came from the Scepter, alien tech... even compromised as he was, Tony still make good calls, calling Carol for her own expertise...”

The geneticist said nothing for a few minutes, clearly remembering Colonel Rhodes pulling every string so he could take more time off for his friend, she tried to lighten the mood, “You’re saying that because it’s Captain Danvers.”

Rhodes laughed a little, “A little, yes.”

They turned around and walked out of the ward where they put the twins, only stopping when they could no longer hear Maximoff’s screams.

“So now what?”

“So far we found out that Tony has become... very, increasinlgy interested in the Ultron program.”

“Oh, I overheard Dr. Stark and Dr. Banner discussing about it a few years back but they scrapped the project so why bring it up again now?”

At his pointed look, Helen frowned, “That doesn’t even make sense. Ultron is supposed to be a deterrant for an alien invasion, why would Maximoff induce him into taking it up again?”

“And that’s what we were trying to found out when Tony expressed an almost desperate interest on the project two years after giving it up and coincidentaly right after Maximoff waved her fingers at his head.”

“... What?”

“The ICC is reviewing the footage from the armor, Maximoff sneaked up on him and began to... wave her fingers right at his temples, red mist formed and the armor shot her when it recognized her as a hostile.”

“At least that takes heat off of Dr. Xavier. Their means are certainly different.”

Rhodes sighed, “The scrutiny on telepaths have never been higher, Maximoff just had to tagert a very visible, world wide visible guy like Tony Stark. I never liked how Tony exposed himself, but his drunk ramblings seem to be actually true.”

“I know that this isn’t any of business...”

“Relax, Cho, if I wasn’t going to explain I wouldn’t have said anything. Tony has always partied very hard, even back in college when he was fourteen damn years old, at seventeen the taste of alcohol would be no news for him. When his parents died, I was worried about the emotional state he was in and thought he was just covering his ass, but... he once said that if he makes himself famous, then no one would be able to just disappear with him. Money speaks loud, but if you wanna speak even louder, you need fame. Tony was seventeen, he had yet to inherit the majority of his fortune even if he already had a few patents on his name, still, if Tony Stark vanished, people wouldn’t just look away because he was a lot more famous than he was rich.”

Helen nodded, seeing all those parties with a teenager Tony Stark in a new light, “Money speaks but fame speaks louder. And Dr. Stark just couldn’t depend on the fact that he was a prodigy, how many overlooked geniuses are out there? He needed fame... even if it was a bad one.”

“He didn’t exactly have the advantages that... I don’t know, for example Rogers did. The entire military covered his ass like crazy because he got into the front pages doing things that no normal human would be able to. Outrrunning cars, dodging bullets... instead of being court martialed, Rogers got a team of his own to do missions of his choosing because if it got out that the Enhanced guy on the front pages with months of “shows” as “Captain America” saved hundreds POW got court martialed... well. Why do you think he got away from the DC crap? The last time the public saw him, Rogers was fighting an alien battalion.”

The scientist grimaced, “No one is infalible, Colonel.”

That made him laugh, a very hollow sound, “And Rogers is completely oblivious to all of it... the day will come that he will make two mistakes consecutively and the public will eat him alive. So far, all the shit he pulled was imeditally after some heroic act so no one even dares to bring it up, that’s not going to last...”

“How does that apply to what is happening?”

“Right, sorry I went on a tangent.”

“No, it was related.”

“Barely, I was just ranting. But you remember what happened with Barton in 2012?”

“Dr. Banner commented briefly. He was mind controlled by Loki.”

“Yes... but you never even heard that one of their own was compromised and attacked the Hellicarrier... the giant ass aircraft that several thousand of feet up in the air that almost fell because of Barton.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Yep... he faced no repercussions whatsoever for that... is it a good thing? Not necessarily since he also received no help after the fact either.”

“Oh, my **_god!_** ”

“In SHIELD you were faceless and nameless, that changed after the Chitauri... somewhat. Barton and Romanoff got famous for “saving the world”, if either got psychological help and people got wind of it, because sooner or later they always do with famous people, the question of “why” would come up and then money, because god knows that it happened with Tony enough times that when he says, “Who can I trust” all you can do is shut up. I really doubt that this is the reason for the total lack of support Barton got, but his fame **_would_** get him protection from the consequences of his actions while under fricking mind control... it’s a very delicate balance, you need to know how to manipulate your fame in your favor.”

“Like Dr. Stark is the expert in doing.”

“Precisely. In this case with Maximoff, people wanted to know why Iron Man was benched after a seemly routine mission that was, technically, sucessful: the Avengers wanted to get the Scepter back while fighting Hydra and they did. But you saw what happened, the public found out that the reason Iron Man hasn’t been seen flying around is because a willing volunteer for Hydra messed with his mind. Not only Barton’s case was dug out but now all known telepaths are under scrutiny and the most famous telepath is Charles Xavier. Maximoff screwed him up good **_because_** their methods are different, Maximoff seems to need physical proximity and you can actually **_see_** the red mist and the red eyes of her victims. Xavier has a super machine that enables him to read any mind anywhere with no one being the wiser.” Rhodey sighed, “Maximoff screwed upt a lot of people.”

Helen’s shoulders dropped, ”But Dr. Xavier is famous, right?”

“Yes, but he doesn’t have the experience that Tony does and he knows that so with Tony out of commission, worse, with Tony out of commission because of a telepath, Xavier is out of a very powerful and needed ally. Tony trusted Xavier long before the mess in Sokovia but now? All kinds of questions of his own mental health and if his word can be trusted because Maximoff messed wih his mind will be raised. Is he in a place to give an impartial opinion when he was a victim? Is he still being mind controlled to look favorably towards telepahts?”

“And no matter what he says about telepaths in specific it will be twisted.”

“Tony knows that too.”

_“The ICC has just made contact, Colonel Rhodes.”_

“What did they say, JARVIS?”

 _“They went through the SHIELD files dumped in 2014 and whatever data they could salvage back in the Sokovian base,”_ Helen grimaced at Rhodes’ deadpan stare, _“And found Maximoff’s entry... alongside Hydra’s research into Artificial Inteligence.”_

“How the hell would Maximoff even know about Ultron?”

_“She couldn’t, it has been ruled out as a coincidence.”_

“Jay, if the next thing you tell me is that Maximoff waving her fingers and Tony suddenly deciding to get back at Ultron was also ruled out as a coincidence I will have to throw something out of a window.”

_“The windows are safe, Colonel, the data showed that what Maximoff can do is complete mental manipulation but what she wanted was revenge. The shell that killed her parents at age ten were SI’s.”_

“Are you kidding me? Whatever, not the first time some crazy had a crazy reason. What does Ultron have to do with it?”

_“Is is one of the weapons in Maximoff’s arsenal: it was her wish to have sir self-destruct and so, instead of simply killing him, torture was the means she chose, she made sir see his worst fears.”_

Rhodey tried to ignore the torture part while Helen could better focus, “How does that tie with Ultron and Maximoff wanting revenge?”

“Ultron was supposed to be a peacekeeper for alien threats... Tony was having flashbacks and PTSD about the wormhole... he is scared of another alien invasion. Everybody was dismissing him, including me and Pepper... in his eyes, he had no choice. The Scepter controlled people into doing Loki's bidding... Hydra was trying to make an AI...”

_“It is of my opinion that you are correct, Colonel Rhodes, the fact that sir sought medical help for his PTSD is on record, that plus Maximoff’s experience with the Scepter led the ICC to conclude that whatever came out of working with the scepter could put hundreds of lives at risk considering what happened to SHIELD’s experiments with it. They are considering charging Maximoff with crimes against humanity aside from the terrorists charges.”_

“Good.”

Wanda never managed to manipulate Tony’s mind and never had the chance to let Tony take the scepter and Ultron never happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First I feel like I owe an explanation...
> 
> I had two huge tech problems in the last two weeks.
> 
> The first was that I made a booboo: I have two hard drivers that I store all my personal stuff in case my computer dies. One for college and personal docs like... my paper of the week, my research, my presentations etc and... idk, my car insurance etc...
> 
> And one for my fics, pics of comics stuff, pics for my dream house, decoration stuff, wish lists, movies and series and songs that I shamefully downloaded because I couldn't find anywhere because they are either really old and/or not very famous (seriously, buy the stuff, downloading it is my last of the last resort).
> 
> Again: stuff that I really don't want to lose and unfortunatelly through the years, three of my computes went up in smokes and I lost everything... so... not this time!
> 
> Here is the thing: I had to get some mantainence in my computer, clean out the memory and whatever because that's not my forte because I recently noticed that it has been a little slow. So I unplugged my hard drivers... only to find out that since the beginning of the year I have been randomly saving the wrong things in each HD... it was all mixed up and, JOY OF THE WORLD: there were docs with the same f**** name. So there I went opening one at a time and sorting through it.
> 
> Second joy of the world: my computer came back and some of my accounts for random things were... idk, written in Arabic? Japanese? Chinese... all I know is that websites that required an account came back all with the little squares instead of letters? So FINALLY I managed to change my username and it all came back to normal, thank god (and yes, I complained their ears off).
> 
> The problem that ties with the first joy of the world: idk where the heck is my fanfic stuff. So until I find it: the last plus in "Wakanda", "Nature's Loopholes" and "Patterns on the Wall" will be temporarily put on hold...
> 
> THIS chap doesn't have half of the stuff I barely remember writing in the original draft and there is a lot more stuff in it that I didn't originally planned on having... *GAH!*
> 
> The core idea was; JARVIS was in "Sentry Mode"... ok, does this means his sensors were completely out? HOW on EARTH Maximoff got close enough Tony in the first place? So... Asimov Laws... sure... that still doesn't explain it, Tony had a NIGHTMARE and the armor attacked PEPPER... Maximoff was close enough to Tony and nothing went off? Was Tony feeling that guilty over the incident with Pepper that he just completely turned off the defences? Suicidal much? But then again...


	5. Pietro Didn't Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are back in business!!!

After taking down the archer – an archer of all things, Pietro almost laughed at the ridiculous weapon, could even be considered a weapon instead of relic? – he went back inside the fortress, skipping to a halt next to his sister who was intently watching as Tony Stark took the scepter.

Not waiting to see what the hell Wanda was waiting for, Pietro rushed ahead and took the scepter back.

Faintly, he heard Wanda screaming his name but it wasn’t in terror or in pain so Pietro went halfway across the city putting the scepter there and making sure it was secure. Nodding to himself, he rushed back to get his sister and off they went.

~*~

Rhodey honestly didn’t know what to think.

“Let’s see…Tony is obsessing over the Ultron project, that he hasn’t paid an iota of attention to for years, Barton and Rogers are calling two Hydra volunteers in their mid-twenties a couple of “kids” and Thor fucked off to wherever not saying a word in advance…”

“And Natasha is not saying a word… even more than usual.”

The Colonel frowned a little at one twitching Bruce Banner who was suddenly hyper aware of the fact that Air Force Colonel James Rhodes was military. Realizing it, Rhodey softened his expression and tried to relax his shoulders, subtly elbowing Wilson to do the same.

Sighing a little at how both Bruce and Wilson were looking at him like he knew what to do in case of mind control and missing alien teammates, Rhodey counted his options.

Mind control wasn’t exactly his forte, so contacting Charles was a must and perhaps Carol can do something about whatever is going on with Thor. In any case, since alien tech is what gave the Maximoff their powers, Carol and Charles are probably the only ones…

“Tony is not going to be happy, but Charles is in London and Carol is not even on the planet…”

“Colonel?”

He ignored Wilson, “Where is the scepter?”

“Currently in storage in a containment box.” Bruce nervously cleaned his glasses.

“Ok, Bruce I know that engineering is not your field but can you think of a way to analyze the scepter without being subjected to the mind control thing?”

“I… think so, what for?”

“A way to negate mind control, perhaps this will be too specific for the scepter but the Avengers have been subjected to mind control a little too many times for us not to at least try.”

Bruce nodded and went to work, Rhodes didn’t even turn to watch him go, “JARVIS?”

_“Yes, Colonel?”_

“Contact Dr. Reed Richards, Dr. Charles Xavier and Air Force Captain Danvers.”

_“Contacting.”_

Pietro never let Tony take the scepter and Ultron never happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short but honestly it would be too much like the last chap *shrugs*, tbh in that sense, Pietro is ALMOST as much to blame as Wanda in Sokovia... Wanda triggered it and Pietro enabled it.


End file.
